List of copulative verbs

Be, be and seem are the three main copulative verbs in Spanish. They are verbs that serve as a connecting link between the subject and the attribute and that, by themselves, lack meaning. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to show you a list of copulative verbs with examples, as well as pseudocopulative verbs that fulfill more or less the same functions in the sentence. If you want to know more about this type of verbal training, keep reading this lesson!

Index

1. Definition of copulative verbs
2. List of copulative verbs in Spanish and pseudopulatives
3. Characteristics of the copulative verb
4. More examples of copulative verbs in Spanish

Copulative verbs are those verbs that, except for the rule, they do not communicate an action. The vast majority of verbs in Spanish are used to inform about the action carried out by the subject (Juan reads a book, for example). However, in the case of copulative verbs we are faced with a verb that does not imply an action but is characterized by uniting the subject with a predicate. Therefore, this type of verb

When we are faced with a copulative verb, the predicate of the sentence is not a verbal predicate but is a nominal predicate. This happens because, as we have commented, this verb does not express any action but rather serves as a link between the subject and the attribute.

The two clear examples of copulative verbs in Spanish are BE, BE and SEEM. In both cases, the verbs will never inform us of a verbal action but will give us extra information about the subject. For example:

• An action verb: Juan cooks macaroni - We know that Juan is doing the cooking action.
• A copulative verb: Juan is very tall - Juan is not doing any action here. The copulative verb ES gives us information about Juan. Therefore the predicate "is very high" cannot be considered as a verbal predicate but as a nominal one because what it does is expand the information about Juan, the subject. Not about what he does but about what he is.
• Another example:Juan is tired - Here we are not told anything that Juan is doing, therefore, there is no action. What the copulative verb ESTAR is telling us is how Juan is, extra information about the subject of the sentence.
• Another example:Juan seems happy - Neither is any action issued by Juan explained to us but rather we are given a point of view on what Juan looks like. The copulative verb SEEMS also gives us extra information about the subject, therefore, the predicate cannot be verbal.

Even if be, be and seem are the copulative verbs in Spanish more commonThe truth is that there are some more than what they do is give us extra information about the subject and do not detail any action.

Let us remember that the copulative verb expresses a state or a condition but this expression is not complete itself because it needs a noun predicate to complete the information. That is, in the case of a generic verb, we find that the verb itself offers complete information about the action and, if we want to expand it, we use complements; this would be the case of "Juan canta". In this sentence it is not necessary to give more information if we do not want because the verb already gives us all the information we want.

Whereas in a copulative verb is always necessary to complement the verb because by itself it does not provide the utterance in a complete way; would be the case of "Juan is". This sentence is cut off, we need to add the attribute to know what Juan is and that the verb makes sense. The same happens with "Juan is" or "Juan seems". In all these examples, the sentence is incomplete.

That said, next we are going to offer you a list of copulative verbs in Spanish and pseudocopulatives so that you know other cases in which this linguistic situation also occurs. They are as follows:

1. To be. The cook is very friendly.
2. To be. The children are happy to see you.
3. Seem. The test seems simple.
4. Result. All of this is very uncomfortable for me.
5. Resemble. The landscape resembled a sunset.
6. Stay. The children were silent all afternoon.
7. Follow. You have to follow the directions.
8. Lie. In Argentina lie a large number of dinosaur bones.
9. Become. Arturo became very cold.
10. To be made. Marcos and Paula became boyfriends within a few years.
11. Become. The work became very boring.
12. To put on. Your parents agree on everything.
13. To stay. The kids were quiet when you arrived.

As a summary and for you to better understand this lesson on copulative verbs, we want to discover some of the most outstanding characteristics of this type of verb in Spanish. In this way, when you are carrying out a syntactic analysis you will be able to detect more quickly the existence of these verbs in the sentence.

The main features of the copulative verbs are the following:

• It has no meaning on its own: you always need the attribute or nominal predicate to be able to offer the statement in a complete way. "Juan is" would not be a correct statement because we would be missing the attribute, "Juan is happy."
• It works as a nexus or copula: the main function of these copulative verbs is to unite the subject with the attribute and, therefore, the verb in this case is used basically as a juxtaposition
• Most used verbs in Spanish: the verb to be, to be and to appear are the most used copulative verbs in Spanish
• There is the kernel: the copulative, having no meaning by itself, loses its force and does not act as the nucleus of the sentence; meanwhile, the core will be the attribute

And we conclude this lesson by offering you more examples of copulative verbs so that you can finish understanding the nature of this type of verb in Spanish. Take note of the examples and practice at home so you can finish completing the lesson:

• The sky is dark
• My mother is an engineer
• My house is small
• My car is old
• The street is deserted
• The stadium will be empty
• My mother was angry
• Your dog looks sad
• My partner is pregnant
• The children are very nice
• Paula seems like a good girl
• My father is tired
• Grandma is very old

If you want to read more articles similar to List of copulative verbs - with examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Grammar and Linguistics.